Broken Memories
by MBAM52993
Summary: Tony and Michelle have a past that they can't forget, epscially now that they're working together. But when a perilous situation lands in their hands, can they put it aside and make it through the day? My first fanfic, PLEASE review, I appreciate it.
1. Twist!

**Broken Memories**

**Summary: Tony and Michelle have to push aside their bubbling hatred and work together to fix one of the biggest messes they have ever had. But what if there's more than meets the eye? Please review, this is my first 24 fan fiction, let alone the first T/M fic. **

**Chapter 1 – Twist! **

**Michelle's POV:**

My eyes kept wandering towards him, I don't know why, but I just couldn't help myself.

I knew that he was doing the same, and I'm sure he knew I was doing it too. I wasn't quite sure what to think of him any more. I didn't know whether to kiss him or kick him. In their own way, both seemed quite appealing.

But I couldn't let him get to me; I knew I needed to stay focused…

"Michelle!" Chloe called, bringing me crashing down to reality, "These access codes don't match."

I pulled myself together and walked over to his computer, while doing so, catching one more glance of Tony, _just to check what he was doing_, I thought to myself. He had turned himself back to the computer and continued working, so I thought I should too.

I reached Chloe's station and looked at her monitor's screen.

After looking it over I replied firmly with, "that's cause you're on the wrong format, Chloe, this is simple stuff, you shouldn't have to get my attention for this."

Without giving her any time to speak I continued, "Chloe, in case you haven't noticed, there's a nuclear missile missing that can kill potentially millions, and the fate of this disaster is in our hands. You should be better than this. In fact, you _are_ better than that, pull yourself together Chloe!"

She interrupted me with saying, "Listen, Michelle, that's because Edgar has the formality codes, and without them, it's hard to do things on task. And instead of sending them over, he's just screwing around with reports and files that aren't top priority."

"No, you listen to me, Chloe!" I interrupted softly, but firmly, "I know I called you here, but I can very easily get you out of here if you don't get what needs to be done, accomplished!"

After realizing how I sounded, I cooled myself down; _these two are going to drive me crazy!_

"Look, Chloe, any other day, I'd be on your side; you know that. But you have to put aside your personal problems for today, I'll talk to Edgar."

Without waiting for a response, I left her station and scanned the room for Edgar. He was at Tony's station, discussing something with him.

I walked up to him, and without waiting for Tony to finish what he was saying, I jumped right in

"Edgar, Chloe tells me that you're holding back this hour's formality codes, is that right?" I said.

"I need them to do my reports, is that a problem?" he replied.

"Yes it is, Chloe needs those codes, and not having them is affecting her work."

"But she doesn't _need_ them," Edgar pouted like a baby, "if she were really as good as everybody says she is, then she should be able to do her work without them. And updating each code for her system would only take time off of my hands, time we don't have! So I think it's Chloe you should be yelling at and…"

That's when I had enough.

"Edgar, quite frankly, I've had enough of your damn complaints! Either you and Chloe settle what is keeping you two from working, or you can join Miss Gavin in the CTU parking lot, without a job! Smart money would be on the first one, so let me suggest that you update those formality codes and give them to Chloe…, _now_!"

_Jesus Christ! Doesn't he know when to stop! _

Tony was simply standing back and watching this scenario without saying a word the whole time, I almost forgot he was there.

I watched Edgar solemnly walk up to Chloe and give her the codes, as the two of them were discussing the needed changes for the next hourly.

I turned my attention to Tony, who was still standing there, for this being his station, and searched my mind for what I was going to ask him.

I wasn't quite sure if the expression on his face was astonishment, or annoyance, but either one, it still made him look attractive…

Ugh! Michelle! What are you doing! There's a nuclear missile missing, and here you are, supposed to be taking care of it, but instead, you're trying to flirt with your ex-husband! Just remember, that's just a mask he's hiding behind! Just remember all of the horrible memories, of when he was a drunk moron! He hasn't changed, Michelle! Just remember that!

Oh great, now I'm just standing here without saying anything, and Tony is probably looking at me like I was crazy!

Tony, though, didn't seem to note my presence, but during the months I was married to him after his release, I had gotten used to that …

"Tony, are you finished with those hourlies?" I asked, even though I knew he was.

"Yeah, they're right here," he replied handing me a manila folder with papers in them.

"Thanks," I said to him, but his attention seemed to be on his screen. I walked away and back up to my office, preparing for the upcoming briefing in a matter of minutes.

I almost felt hurt, that his attention was somewhere else besides me. _But that's the way you wanted it Michelle, remember?_ It was just that when I first took my job at CTU, I would give anything for Tony to feel the same way about me as I did about him. But now, after convincing myself that I wasn't in love with him, it hurt to know that he felt the same way about me as I did about him. Oh well, I'll get over him, in fact, I already have… I was completely over him… completely…

**Tony's POV**

I hadn't seen Michelle for a while now, and I wonder where she could be. But she'd probably be at the briefing, which actually was about now.

I walked into the conference room, where Michelle was having a heated discussion with Bill Buchanan, and was trying to hide her anger and astonishment.

"But Bill, he's dead, I saw him die with my very own eyes! How could it possibly be!" she fumed.

"I don't know, but all I know are the facts, and what I told you were the facts, quite frankly, I can't put it together myself." Bill replied.

Interested in what was going on, I jumped into the conversation and asked impatiently, "What's going on? Who's dead?"

Michelle sighed and said, "I'll explain it after the briefing."

After we were informed with miniscule updates on the missile situation during the briefing and everybody left, I stood up, waiting for Michelle to give me the explanation she owed me.

Michelle let out another sigh, and started, "As you know, there's a missing nuclear missile stolen by international terrorists, and I have been stressing that finding it is a number one priority. Well, that may have to change." She paused for a second, waiting for my reaction, at least I think.

My eyes remained focused on Michelle though, waiting for her to continue, because she had me quite confused.

She took a deep breath and continued, "You see, three hours ago our second priority would be, as you know, to find an insider. The terrorists were able to retrieve the missile because they had the pages from nuclear football, but we weren't able to explain to disappearance of the launch codes; without them, Marwan wouldn't be able to launch the missile. Our first explanation was an insider was able to steal the launch codes and give them to Marwan. Three hours ago, a man named Patrick Seen was caught hacking into classified information, and after searching his computer, we were able to discover that he had contact with Marwan, and he confessed on record that he was the mole. But while being taken to Division, the car he was in suffered a traffic accident, resulting in the death of two agents and Seen himself. There were no survivors. The traffic accident was reported by nearby civilians, but the car had mysteriously disappeared, leaving the three bodies on the street. The case wasn't given much thought, since we had the whole nuclear missile issue on our hands, but I decided to look into it, which explains my absence during the past hour.

But I have come across a loose end. None of Seen's accounts say that he actually accessed the launch codes."

"So you're saying that this guy didn't access them, and that there's another mole behind all of this?" I asked piecing it together.

"Not necessarily," she replied. "That's exactly what I thought, so I looked into where the codes had been taken, if they had been accessed and by whom."

"So what did you find?"

"The codes haven't been accessed since about a month ago, that being for the monthly updates."

"So you're saying that they haven't been accessed at all?" I asked, now more confused than ever.

"I had Jack and a specialist look into it, and it's true, codes haven't been touched!"

I was about to ask when the last time besides the monthly updates the codes had been accessed, but something crossed my mind. "You have Jack, a specialist, and Bill in on this and I'm just finding out about it…?" I said, arms crossed.

I could see slight signs of panic run through Michelle's face as she replied, "I didn't want to run a matter of this importance through you until I had all the facts."

She was acting like I was a ranking officer or something, _uh, in case you haven't noticed, you're MY boss._ Maybe she still has a little bit of respect for me, or perhaps she's too used to working for me from the years before.

"I see," I responded, "and when was the last time the codes were accessed besides the monthly checks?" I decided I'd chew her out later, since this case was taking my interest.

"Once, about four and a half years ago, when we were on the verge of war with the Middle East because of…"

"I know why," I cut her off, and after a pause I added, "I remember that day quite well." I don't know what possessed me to add that last part, but it did leave the room with some unwanted tension. It was that day of the nuclear bomb; the day we realized our true feelings for each other; the day she went up against me to help Jack; but most importantly, the day of our first kiss. And it was true; I remember that day quite well.

That last comment hit Michelle off-guard, and for a split second, there was an awkward silence where the both of us looked into each other's eyes.

I wasn't quite sure what emotions she was feeling, it was hard to tell. Even though it seemed like forever, it was only a split second.

After that split second Michelle's face hardened and she brushed it off saying, "then you'd know that the only reason that they were accessed was to prep it for any possible use."

"So what are we saying here?" I asked. "That the codes were never accessed and that the terrorists can't launch the missile? This should be good news, but I have a feeling that it isn't."

"Afraid not," Michelle replied, and right then, Jack entered the room.

"Michelle, did you catch Tony up on the situation?" he asked.

"I'm in the middle of that right now, Jack." She replied.

She started to continue, "What we're afraid of is that the capture of the missile may have been a carefully elaborated plan to draw our attention somewhere else, and that there may be another threat on its way."

"I see," I replied, "and do we have any leads on what that new threat may be?"

Jack answered this time, "Well that's the problem, Tony. We looked into Seen's cell phone, and we were able to see what calls he had made, and one of them gives us the answer to your question." He paused for a second and continued, "You see, Seen was just a patsy, he was just an undedicated government worker who got paid a whole lot of money to take the blame for accessing these codes. It turns out that Seen wasn't even classified enough to access the launch codes. He was promised that the agents escorting him would be killed and he'd escape, but he wasn't aware of the fact that Marwan would have him killed to keep him quiet. What Marwan wasn't aware of is that the cell phone wasn't supposed to be analyzed until it had arrived at Division. But instead, they took a look at it from Seen's agency, and sent it with the agents for further analization. But since the car had disappeared, so did everything in it, including the cell phone."

Michelle picked up from there, "If they hadn't suffered the accident, they would have been at Division at about one hour from now. We would have figured out the contents of the cell phone and realized that there is another terrorist threat about and hour and a half from now. We're assuming that's what Marwan is relying on, that we don't find out about this alternate plan until about 1:15 A.M. (A/N: The times aren't completely accurate and don't really correlate with the episodes, so stick with me here!) We have to assume that by then it'll be too late, and that the plan would have been initiated by then. The phone call we found on Seen's cell was the ticket to stopping this plan since the conversation explains everything that is going to go down."

"Well?" I interrupted, "What is it, then? Why aren't we working on it?" I knew something was wrong.

"Because we aren't quite sure how credible the phone call is," Jack replied.

"How come?"

Michelle answered this time, "because the man who was supposedly on the other end is already dead."

"Who is he?" I asked the million dollar question.

Michelle took a deep breath and let out, "Stephan Saunders."

**So, what do you think? I know, a little farfetched, but I'll explain everything in the next chapter. PLEASE, PLEASE review! I appreciate it!**


	2. Leather Jacket, Michelle!

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, I do have an idea where the story is going, but if you have any ideas, please, PLEASE tell me in your reviews. **

**Lidbit91: **Oh, the awkward moments, I love those too. And I know that Saunders thing is weird, but I'll explain it in this chapter.

**Anonymous: **Hehe, yeah I know, kinda harsh but, oh well.

**RedSoxGirl77: **Yeah, but I might have trouble thinking of ways to keep the plot going, which is why I need all of your suggestions.

**Chapter 2 – Leather Jacket, Michelle!**

**Michelle's POV**

There weren't really any words to describe the look on Tony's face; it was just well… there weren't any words for it.

There was a moment of awkward silence for a second, and I could feel Jack awkwardly looking back and forth at Tony and me to see who would break the silence.

It was Tony, "And the possible new threat would be…?"

"The release of the Cordilla Virus," Jack said. "That would be the only reason this guy would have his phone, cause he probably worked with him and needed a few vials of the virus. And we have it on recording."

"That doesn't make any sense" Tony responded, "I thought we wiped out every bit of the virus a year and a half ago."

"Well, I guess we were wrong," Jack said.

"And most importantly, Stephan Saunders is dead!" Tony replied.

_Well, glad to see you've been paying attention…_ I thought to myself, then started saying, "But we're not exactly sure it was him. All we know is that the caller ID said Stephan Saunders, and the recording was listened to by several agents, identifying the voice on the other line as man about 35 or 40 years of age. It could have been someone else with his phone."

"But why or how could anyone obtain this guy's phone? We already took the one he was using when he found him, and there's no possible way anyone could have gotten that phone, even an insider."

"So I guess that the only possible way anyone could have a phone with his name on it would be if Saunders had one we didn't know about." Jack cut in. "And someone who must have worked close with him, must have had it while he was working with him during the virus threat. Someone I guess we didn't catch."

"The Nuclear Facilities where Seen worked is sending over as much of the recording that was saved before it was sent to Division. Then we can debate whether the guy on the other line was Stephan Saunders or not."

"Alright, that matter is settled, but what about the Cordilla Virus? How is _that_ possible?" Tony questioned.

"Well, it's possible whoever was working with Saunders and has his phone, was obviously holding back on a few vials, saving them in case Saunders' plan failed which it did. But after it did, the nation's security was so tight, that this guy couldn't possibly use them. He needed to wait until things had cooled down, and during the process he must have come across Marwan and his associates. They must have made a deal and this was their contingency plan. But I guess they didn't think it would work, seeing as it didn't work last time. So they decided to sketch out the entire nuclear missile plan, knowing that none of us would ever think of the possibility of replaying a past threat. And I guess the nuclear missile issue was just a distraction." I said.

"And we can assume that this will go down within the next hour and a half?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, maybe even sooner," Jack replied.

"And how are we going to go about in stopping that from happening?" Tony asked.

"I'll brief everybody, and have Chloe and Edgar analyze any of the saved recording and information from the cell phone that the NF are sending to us. As soon as we have any location whatsoever, I'm sending Jack and Curtis to check it out. But in the meantime, we need to make as many background checks as possible. Search the name Patrick Seen, any other alias he could have used or anyone who could have or did have contact with Stephan Saunders."

"How do we know that the man on the other end wasn't Marwan himself?" Jack asked.

"That's a possibility we'll have to check into." I responded. "But I see no reason for Marwan to have both phones. Until we have a location, I want you and Tony to check any contacts of Seen or Saunders in the past four years. That's all." And I left the room.

**Tony's POV**

Jack and I were working on what Michelle had assigned us to do. It was sort of weird seeing Jack in a desk behind a computer, but it reminded me of the "old days" when he was my boss, Director of CTU. I almost smiled thinking about it.

"So Jack, how long have you been in on this?" I asked.

"What, you mean in on the whole Stephan Saunders thing?" he replied.

"Well, yeah."

"Look, I know you hate being out of the loop, which is why it was my first reaction to tell you about it, but Michelle only wanted the higher-up people from Division, herself, and me, - since I was in the field and could head up any locations they might have found – to know about it until further notice."

"I see." I got it now, she wasn't still used to working under me; she just didn't want to tell me. And she was trying to flatter me in the conference room, at least I think. I felt sort of stupid believing that she still had any respect for me, if she did, she would have told me in the first place.

My thoughts were interrupted by Edgar calling, "Ms. Dessler, we have the recording from Seen's phone."

Jack. Curtis and I walked over to Chloe's station where Edgar was, as well as Michelle and Bill Buchanan.

Chloe played it and we were able to hear a broken up conversation with a lot of background noise, but could just barely make out what they were saying, but many bits were lost or unclear.

**Seen:** When will we be able to…Cordilla Virus?

"**Stephan Saunders":** soon…

**Seen: **what about Marwan…?

"**Stephan Saunders":** I'll take care of him… don't worry

**Seen: **What time… release?

"**Stephan Saunders":** The scheduled time… by the sunrise, CTU would have lost… _Disconnected_

"It's not him," Michelle noted. "It's not Stephan Saunders."

"How do you know?" Bill asked.

"The accent," Jack said, reading her thoughts, "it's not British."

_Why didn't I pick that up?_ "So now we know that whoever his guy is, he has Stephan Saunders' phone and must have worked for or with him."

"We did a voice analization, and we came across about 50 close matches," Chloe spoke, "we did a few background checks and came across a guy name Marcus Smith. He was one of our 50 voice matches and has had active contact with terrorists. He fled the country about a year to two years ago. We were able to trace the call but since we don't have the source – the cell phone – so we can't get a precise location. All we know is that the call was made some where in Los Angeles, that's for sure, and most likely in an 8-14 mile radius from here. We traced that with any place Smith has been in the past four years. We couldn't come up with anything precise, but we did find out that he's been using the alias "Carter Jones". And we found that the Courier Hotel has a guest listed as Carter Jones. And it's located in about an 11 mile radius from here, so I think we have a match."

"Chloe, you're sure?" Bill confirmed.

"A hundred percent." She verified.

"Alright," he replied, with an uneasy look on his face.

**Michelle's POV**

As soon as I heard that, I said, "Alright, Jack and Curtis are going to head up a team to the Courier Hotel…"

"I think that's a mistake," Bill spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"Curtis stays here; Jack and Michelle are going to head up the teams." He replied.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Michelle, you were inside the Chandler Plaza Hotel during the release of the Cordilla Virus, weren't you?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Then you know how to handle the situation, right?"

"Yes."

"And not only that, you're the only agent who we know is a hundred percent immune."

"That's true."

"So I need you to head you the teams in case there are any out breaks of the virus. You're immune; you won't be affected by it. We'll have teams on standby in bio-suits, but we can't put them in the building unless necessary since we don't want to draw attention to ourselves. You have to do this Michelle."

At first, I was confused and silent. The time I spent inside the Chandler Plaza Hotel was the worst experience of my life. But I knew this was my duty, and I'm literally the only hope if the virus breaks out again. I'm the only one here who's immune to the virus. I was torn between what to do, but after a second I replied, "I'll do it." I took a look at Tony, he almost seem hurt. But I brushed it off; _I'm just thinking that because I want it to be true, he doesn't care, not a bit…_

"Alright," Bill replied, "let's get you prepared then." He walked Jack and me to get briefed, and I could just feel Tony staring after us. I took a deep breath; I was scared. And it was almost stupid when you think of it, but it wasn't the mission I was scared of, it was the leather jacket. Every agent had a jacket and pants fitted for them, field agent or not. I wore that same jacket when I was in the Chandler Plaza Hotel, kidnapped by Saunders, and when I kissed Tony goodbye. It was that jacket I wore when I lost everything. And those memories are much too much for me, but I'd have to push them aside, for I was going back into the field for the first time in 18 months, and this mission could cost millions of lives.

**O.K., so not a lot of T/M in this chapter, but there will be, I promise. Please review, I need suggestions, after all this is my first fanfic. Thank you. The next few updates may be kinda slow, but hang in there. **


	3. Dangers Around the Corner

**Chapter 3 is up! Please, PLEASE review, last time, a couple of you held out on me. Come on, this is my first fanfic, I need all the help I can get.**

**_IMPORTANT: I'm not sure if any of you noticed, but in the first chapter I said the time to be about 1:15 A.M., but that has changed to go along with the story. The time is actually now 4:00 A.M. Sorry about that._**

**michelleandtony4ever: I like your idea and took it into consideration. **

**Amy: Well, I know that's probably true, the jacket being gone. But I just wanted something to represent Michelle's experience in the field, so I chose the jacket.**

**Chapter 3 – Danger Around the Corner**

**Michelle's POV**

Bill had gotten Jack and me up to speed on how things were going to run; it was mainly going to be me in the field, and Jack would be there in case anything went wrong. I felt much safer knowing that Jack would be there if anything went wrong, because, knowing Jack, he'd come in there anyway even if he knew the virus was in the building. I also felt much better that the jacket I was wearing was different than the one I wore last time; I could tell, this one was smaller.

"Michelle!" Nicole Duncan called as I was about to exit CTU. I turned around.

"Before you leave, we need you to take a few tests."

"Why?" Jack asked, a little annoyed. "We don't have much time for that, for all we know, the virus could be released any minute now. We should hurry."

"Yes, I know," Nicole replied, "but there's something in your system that kept you immune from the virus. We need to find out what that is."

"You think you can use that to find a cure for the virus?" I asked.

"Well, it's a stretch, but it's the only chance we have if the virus is released, and we need to be prepared."

"Alright, but don't take long." Jack said. "We don't have much time."

**Tony's POV**

I walked out of CTU to where the teams and cars were parked. I scanned the place with my eyes and saw Jack leaning against an SUV, but no Michelle. A bunch of thoughts raced through my mind. I couldn't believe that she was doing this. I mean, it _was_ her duty, but the last time she went out into the field, both of us were on an emotional rollercoaster. But I mean this isn't the same, is it? I mean, even though we're divorced, I don't hate her enough to want to see her get hurt. But that's not love, is it? It couldn't be…

"Where's Michelle? Why aren't you guys on your way?" I asked Jack.

"We will be, Michelle just needs to take a few tests so Nicole Duncan can try and use some of her DNA or blood to find a cure for the virus." He replied.

"Oh," I said, and I leaned against the SUV right next to Jack.

"So," Jack started after a pause, "how has your day been?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked as if he was crazy. What kind of question was that?

"I mean you and Michelle, I mean I know you guys didn't exactly end the marriage on a happy note, and it's probably hard for you to work with, especially when she's your boss. I was asking how you were holding up."

"O.K., I guess, but it's just…" I stopped myself there. There was NO way I was empting my heart out to Jack.

"Just what?" he asked. I know he only wanted to help, but I just hate it when he buts into my life. And the reason for that is that he's usually right, and I hate it when he's right.

"Well, it's just that she seems …different… colder."

"Well what do you expect Tony? I mean, like I said, you guys didn't exactly end things on a happy note, I mean, she's not going to be too happy to see you."

"I know, but it's not the way she's acting towards me, it's just… her eyes. They're not the same. It's like I'm looking into a complete stranger."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's been like that with me and Audrey ever since I tortured Paul."

"So how are things going with you guys?"

"Not too good…" he replied, looking down. I felt so bad for him; he has saved the world just about a million times and still can't find any luck with women. He lost Terri because of Nina, Kate because of his drug addiction, and it looks like Audrey is going to be on the list pretty soon because of Paul getting killed. But the irony of it all is that he lost them all because of his job, the job he was born to do, the job if he hadn't taken, we'd be all dead. After a minute he said, "But don't try and change the subject, Tony, I'm talking about you and Michelle." After a pause, he added, "she does care for you Tony."

I smiled a sarcastic smile and said, "Are we looking at the same Michelle, Jack? Because the one is see couldn't care any less for me. You're just saying that to make me feel better and quite frankly it's not working."

"I'm not," he replied, "I'm just saying…" and he trailed off.

"Just saying what?" I asked.

"Let me ask you this, were you and Michelle involved before I came back to CTU?"

"Well, no." I replied.

"Were you involved on the day of the nuclear bomb?"

"Not really, why?"

"But you still cared about each other?"

"Well, yeah."

"Well, remember when you got promoted to CTU director, and you had to be brought down from your little ego trip?"

I rolled my eyes at that. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, when Michelle was helping me behind your back, she seemed so tense. She felt awful about having to hide this from you, but she did what she had to do. Well, today when we were looking into the disappearance of the access codes, Bill made it clear to her that he only wanted high level agents in this case, no exceptions. And that's what she told me. But when she did, I saw that same look in her eyes, the same one when she and I were working against you."

"Well, Jack, we were married for three years, I mean the feelings you have for someone can't just disappear. It's the same way I wouldn't want her to get hurt on this mission, but let's face it, there's no future for us."

Jack simply shrugged. I could tell that he wasn't convinced. "Yeah, well, it's your life; I'm just trying to help."

I laughed at that turned myself to face him and asked, "Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the last words I said to you before going to prison were horrible things about Terri, but you still came through for me. Why?"

Jack smiled, "I know you didn't mean it, and you didn't deserve going to prison, that's why."

After a pause I started, "Uh, Jack. I am sorry about what I said. The truth is I'm more responsible then you could ever be. I was at CTU at the time and…"

"Don't worry about it, Tony. What's in the past is in the past, and it's not your fault."

"Yeah, I just wanted to clear that with you before I asked you this next thing."

"What's that?"

"Take of Michelle for me. I mean I know you're going to start with the fact that I still love her, but the truth is I just don't want her to get hurt again. Just take care of her."

Jack smiled again and said, "You know you didn't even need to ask. Of course I will."

"Thanks Jack." My head turned when I saw Michelle walk up to us. She was in tight black pants and a snug leather jacket. Her hair was tied up in a high and tight ponytail leaving a single strand of straight hair dangling at the side of her face. It was much different than her low and loose ponytails and buns with her curly hair.

"Are we ready?" she asked.

"Yeah" I said, "Here's just some background information you should look into." And I handed her a manila folder.

"Thanks," she replied, looking it over. Then she said, "Let's go Jack." Jack got in the driver's seat waiting as Michelle grabbed her gun and put it in her holster. She took one last look at me and opened the door to the passenger seat.

"Hey, Michelle," I said casually.

She turned her head.

"Just, uh, be careful, alright." I said.

She simply nodded her head and let out a quiet, "Thanks." She got in the SUV, closed the door, and I watched as she drove away, hoping that she wouldn't get herself in another mess.

**Michelle's POV**

Most of the car ride to the Courier hotel was quiet. The only people in the car were Jack and me. The rest of the teams were in other cars. They wanted to make this seem casual and didn't want to draw attention to myself or Jack. Finally, Jack broke the silence.

"So, how are you holding up?" he asked.

"Alright, I guess." I replied. "A little nervous, that's all."

"That's natural, don't worry about it." He said. "So, how have you been holding up working with Tony?"

I knew _exactly_ where he was going. "Don't start, Jack," I told him.

"I just want to know if you guys are o.k." he said.

"We're fine, Jack," I said through gritted teeth. Tony was the LAST thing I wanted to talk about.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"I'm _sure_, Jack, now if you don't mind, stop butting into my life!" I exclaimed. Jack simply nodded and turned his attention to the road.

After taking a deep breath and calming down I started quietly, "I'm sorry, that didn't come out right…"

"No, it's o.k., I understand. I just wanted to check that you were alright." He replied.

"Not really, Jack. I mean, ever since he got out of prison, he was… different …colder. And I know prison can do that to a man, but still, he wasn't getting anywhere at all. Not just in his career, or with his marriage, but in his life. He was sitting in the same spot, stationary, not moving in his life at all. And he knew it! But he was so convinced that this was the end, and felt so sorry for himself, that he didn't even care! And I couldn't stand to watch it anymore, especially knowing that I was the cause for that!" Now I was near tears, but I was able to hold them in. "So I left! Was that so wrong!" Of course, after a second I realized how I sounded, like one of those divorced women in Spanish soap operas who can't stop crying.

The look on Jack's face after I blurted that all out was priceless. He looked so dumbfounded and confused. I'm pretty sure he didn't know what to say at all. So I just kept on talking.

After taking another deep breath, I said quietly and calmly, "It's like he's a complete stranger to me. And I hate it. All of it. Seeing him here, and spending days apart. For the Tony I fell in love with hasn't returned for a year and a half, ever since his arrest." I took a deep sigh. Wow! Glad I got that off of my chest.

"Uh… Michelle," Jack started, "I'm not really good at these pep talks so I guess I'll just tell you my past experiences. When Terri died, I couldn't believe it. I kept thinking that it was all a bad dream and that I was going to wake up any second now. But as time passed on, I never woke up. Eventually, I realized that this was all reality, and there was no escape. I thought it was all over, Kim hated me, my wife was gone, so was my job, the only thing I knew. Well, all I knew was that I needed someone, even though I wasn't exactly the "most fun" to be around. But Kim moved on, which meant moving out on me. After President Palmer called me on the day of the nuclear bomb, I got my act together, Kim saw the Dad that she always knew once again, and she came back. I'm guessing that Tony was feeling the same way I was before I got my act together. And I couldn't blame Kim for leaving me, the same way he can't really blame you for leaving him. But you can't hold it against him forever. Some day he's gonna get his act back together, and I think that day is today. And when he's the same Tony again, I don't see why you can't get back together, but hey, that's just me."

Wow, that was a little more of Jack than you normally see. He actually has a soft side. "Thanks, Jack." I said; that's all I could say.

He simply nodded, saying, "Always happy to help." After that he changed the subject saying, "We're almost here. You ready?"

"Yeah. What time is it?"

"About 4:15, the recording said that by sunrise "CTU would've lost", which means we have till 6, maybe 6:30 until the virus is out and cannot be stopped."

"Yeah," I replied. I needed too push Tony off of my mind if I could successfully complete this mission.

**Tony's POV**

I was now sitting in Michelle's desk, my old desk. It actually felt good, being the boss again, even though it was only for a little while.

In the spare time I had ran all of today's events through my head, and it was hard to believe that all of them had had happened in one day. I couldn't believe it, this morning I was yelling at Jen, drinking beer, and watching Spanish soccer. Almost twenty-four hours later, I'm sitting in my ex-wife's office, my old office, and there's a national crisis in my hands.

I wanted to use that time to reflect on my thoughts, seeing as the only thoughts I've reflected on for a while are beer, Jen, television ...and beer. But as usual Edgar came rushing in at the wrong times and said, "Tony, Michelle and Jack have arrived at the Courier Hotel."

"Thanks," I replied to him and got out of "my" chair and headed downstairs to the main floor. I grabbed an earpiece and listened on.

Part of me was nervous that Michelle was in the field, after all I did throw away my lie to save hers and even though we're divorced, I'd _hate_ to see her get hurt. The other part of me was saying that I should back off, she's not mine any more and I should let her live her own life. Right now, I wasn't quite sure what to think, I was falling for the woman who left me, walked out on me, kicked me while I was down after I threw everything away for her, betrayed me in every way possible and wants nothing to do with me. There was no hope for us, I said so myself, absolutely no hope at all…

**Michelle's POV**

I walked inside the Courier Hotel with Jack and walked up to the front desk saying to the young lady behind the counter, "Excuse me, Miss, we're looking for Charles Patterson, head of hotel security."

"One second," she replied, and picked up the phone.

While she was talking, I looked around the hotel and turned to Jack. "How do you think a run away fugitive could afford a five-start hotel like this?"

"Perhaps Marwan's pay could have gotten him this," he said.

"Why would Marwan pay him before the job was done?" I asked.

"Maybe he was paid to do something else before getting this offer." He said.

"But it must have been something pretty big," I said, "because he sure got a lot of money for it."

"Excuse me," I turned around to see a brown haired man in about his mid thirties standing there. "I'm Charles Patterson, please, follow me into my office."

So we did, Jack made sure that the door was locked and all surveillance was off inside his office before we started to talk.

"Mr. Patterson, I believe we spoke on the phone earlier," Jack said.

"Yes, and I believe you're Agent Bauer and Agent Dessler," he said, shaking our hands and sitting down. "Now tell me, what was such a matter of importance regarding our hotel that had to be brought to the attention of CTU agents, especially in the middle of night?"

"Well, Mr. Patterson," I started, "we believe a guest at your hotel may be involved in today's terrorist attacks. He's signed under the name Carter Jones."

"Today's attacks?" he asked in disbelief. "I assure you that we have a clean establishment…"

"I don't care," Jack said bluntly. "All we need to know is everything about the man named Carter Jones. And if you won't tell us, then we'll find out ourselves." He added threateningly.

"I understand," Patterson replied. He turned to his computer and typed in 'Carter Jones' and came up with all of his bills, check-ins and check-outs, at what times he was in his hotel, and what time he wasn't. He pulled up a copy of his ID as well.

"That's him," I said, remembering the picture of Marcus Smith I had seen earlier on the computer screen.

"Son of a bitch," Jack said, "he's scheduled to check-out in three hours!"

"Do you know of he's inside his room right now?" I asked.

He typed a little more and after reading his monitor screen, he said, "No, he left the hotel at about 2:30 this afternoon and hasn't returned since."

"You're sure he couldn't sneak in with out you knowing?" Jack asked.

"That's impossible," Patterson replied, "the only way to get to his room is to pass the front desk, and they have his key card. Without it, he can't go to his own room. And it says here that we still have his card at the front desk. And he couldn't climb up from the back, seeing as his room is on the 22nd floor."

"And the fire escape?" I asked.

"It breaks on the 16th floor, there's no possible way he could be in here." Patterson replied.

"Alright, then" Jack said. "Do you know where he could have gone?"

"Well, not really." Patterson replied.

"What about his bills?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Patterson asked.

"Did he use cash or credit?" I asked.

"Credit," he replied. "Why?"

I hunched over the desk and typed a little bit on his keyboard and was able to come up with all of the expenses he made with his credit card.

"He had a lunch at the Rowtown Café on the 19th, he purchased a licensed gun at Stevenson Sports Shop on the 20th, and he had another dinner at Rosetta's Diner on the 23rd. Did you get that Tony?" I spoke into the earpiece.

"Yeah," he said. And I heard him telling Chloe to cross search all of those places and who else was there at the time.

"We're going to have to search his room," Jack said.

"I can give you the key," Patterson said as he walked out of his office to the front desk.

We took the key and went up to his room. Once we were right in front of it, Jack pulled out his gun and so did I.

He silently unlocked the door and whispered, "Stand back," as he kicked the door open and held out his gun. When seeing no one was inside, he put his gun down and beckoned for me to come in.

I was about to turn the lights on, but just as my hand touched the switch Jack grabbed it. "Don't turn the lights on, it may draw attention to us, after all, nobody's up this late at night. And Smith may have some men watching his room for any suspicious behavior."

"You're right," I said, and started to search the room. He had cleaned out most of it, considering that he was leaving as soon as the virus was released.

"Hey Michelle," Jack said, "look at this."

"What is it?" I asked, moving towards him. He gestured to an open laptop on the desk with documents and pictures of planes and airports saved and opened. After looking it over I realized that it was the L.A. airport.

"Jack, I think this is where they're going to release the virus…" but I couldn't even finish my sentence because I was interrupted by the glass in the window breaking and gunshots being fired.

I could here Tony yelling in the earpiece, "What's going on? Michele! Jack!" But soon the line went dead and I could feel Jack pull me down to the floor and under the desk. But the last thing I remember hearing is the last shot, which seemed to have come extremely close to us and Jack stumble backwards…

**So, what do you think? Nothing much happened in this chapter; I just wanted to post something. So this time, PLEASE review. I do appreciate it. Thank you.**


	4. I Have an Idea

**Alright, I finally finished chapter four! Tell me what you think! Please review, and for those of you faithful reviewers, you have my deepest gratitude. **

**Dazzi: Don't worry, I'd never kill Jack.**

**HelloKitty87: Thanks!**

**Amy: About Jack and Michelle in the field, I know, doesn't it seem kinda cool to you too? I personally like the thought.**

**Jesse: Don't worry, what good is a T/M fic if they don't get back together? They will, just keep reading.**

**Resa131: Don't worry, this chapter will have some action, not too much, but the next chapter will DEFINITELY have action.**

**So, without further ado, here's chapter four.**

**Chapter 4 – "I Have an Idea"**

**Tony's POV**

"Michelle! Jack!" I yelled. "If you can here me, respond! Jack! Michelle! Michelle!"

"It's no use," Curtis said, "the line's dead."

"Well, get the connection back then!" I said. I couldn't believe this was happening; just what I feared had happened. I just prayed that Michelle was alright, I knew that Jack was, he was equipped to handle the field, but she wasn't. It made me feel a little better that her jacket was lined with Kevlar, but I was still afraid. She could've gotten a hit in the head or leg. I could only hope from here.

"Tony, I can't get a connection!" Edgar called, "We've tried their cell as well, and they're not picking up!"

"Well, keep trying!" I yelled running my hands through my hair in frustration. I hated standing here unable to do anything, gathering my hope in vain.

"Send the teams in, NOW!" I yelled. All I could do is wait here and see what was to come of this.

**Michelle's POV**

"Jack!" I shrieked as soon as I figured out what had happened; the bullet had hit him.

"It's alright," he said, pointing to his Kevlar vest. "I'm fine."

I helped him up as soon as the shooting stopped; I immediately took out my phone.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked.

"Calling CTU, the line went dead during the shooting." I replied, a little confused why he asked.

"Don't do that," he said taking the cell phone from my hand, "there's an insider at CTU."

"What?" I asked.

"How else would the line have gone dead, we never cut the wires or hit the earpiece, it went dead before we were able to tell them where the virus was to be released; doesn't that seem like a bit of a coincidence to you? They must have signaled the attack when they heard that we had figured it out. This means they'll probably send some men here to make sure we're dead, and we need to make sure that in the meantime, they think exactly that. And we need to get out of here before they get here. Let's go."

"What about Tony? Can't we call him?" I asked, I knew we couldn't pull this off alone.

"No," Jack replied, "we don't know if he's being monitored or not, or who's watching his activity."

"O.k., so now what?" I asked, I was really a beginner when it came to field work.

"We go to the L.A. airport and try and stop the release of the virus," he replied.

"All by ourselves?" I asked in disbelief.

"We have no choice."

"What about the teams? Tony must have sent them in after hearing the shooting; they'll be here any minute now. Jack, we can't search the entire airport of L.A. by ourselves; we need help."

"We can't, they're sure to notify CTU that we're alive, who knows if one of them is the mole? They could have signaled the attack from the car."

"Well, let's get out of here then."

As we traversed the halls we heard screams of panic as people came outside to see what all the noise was about. As we headed out of the hotel, careful not to be caught by any of the teams, and stumbled over Charles Patterson's dead body.

"Jack, look," I said, tugging at his arm and pointing at the body.

"The guy who attacked us must be inside the hotel; he's in here looking for us. Let's get out of here." He whispered.

We headed out of the hotel and to our car, but this time I was the one with the quick thinking and said, "Wait, if we want them to think that we're dead, it would be odd for two dead guys to take their own car."

Jack almost smiled at the fact that I came up with a suggestion for once, and said, "Let's get another ride then."

With that, a truck passed by and Jack got in front of it and held out his badge and gun, gesturing for the truck to stop.

When the truck stopped, Jack went up to the front and opened the door saying to the teenage boy driving, "Sir, I'm a federal agent," and he gestured to the badge, "and I need this vehicle; it's a matter of national security."

"What the hell? No way! I need this truck, dude! You can just…" but before the kid could finish his sentence Jack laid a punch on his jaw and knocked him unconscious.

After dragging his body to bushy area and hiding it, we climbed into the truck and drove away, heading for the L.A. airport.

**Tony's POV**

The phone in my office rang, I picked it up and it was Nicole Duncan. "Hey Tony," she greeted.

"Hi Nicole, do you have anything?" I asked.

"Well, a cure for the virus is practically impossible to make, but we're working on a vaccination. But the problem is that it requires a great amount of C2H3Y6, a substance which we don't have a lot of, so we can only make scarce amounts, and it's only to be used when necessary. We won't have more of it until about a week, maybe less."

"That's not good enough, Nicole," I said, "In a week, a third of the population will be dead."

"We're working on it, Tony; we haven't even come up with the formula yet. But we have come up with a test in which we take a blood sample and test it to see if it's immune or not to the virus without actually exposing the person to the virus. Bill is having all of your people take it so that if you guys find the location of the virus, you can send whoever is immune to it in first."

"Alright, thanks Nicole," I said, and hung up.

With that, Bill walked into my office with a solemn look on his face. I guessed that this couldn't mean anything good.

"What did you find?" I asked him, knowing that it probably wasn't good.

"Well, Jack and Michelle aren't to be found anywhere, their car is outside and the teams have searched the hotel. We don't have a body, so they probably aren't dead, but their car is outside, so somebody must have gotten to them first. There wasn't any blood found in the room, so I don't think they got hit, but they must have been captured. It's the only explanation." He said.

I took a deep breath and sighed, rubbing the side of my face. I couldn't believe it, Michelle must be so scared; I couldn't help but think what they were doing to her.

"Well, there's another problem." I said, trying to remain calm. "They said that they had found out where the virus was going to be released but before they could tell us, the shots rang out. That leaves us with two conflicts. One, where _is_ the virus going to be released; and two, how did the shooters have such perfect timing? I mean how did they manage to start shooting just when they were going to tell us? They couldn't have been listening in; we checked the place to see if it was bugged, so I can only see one more explanation…"

"That's what I've been meaning to talk to you about," Bill said, closing the door.

"So you think so, too, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied, "there has to be a mole, I don't see how they could have attacked like that. How could they have known about Jack and Michelle being in the room in the first place? They didn't turn the lights on and like you said, it couldn't have been bugged, so I'm guessing somebody here who was listening in on the main floor signaled the attack."

"Well, that narrows it down. There was Chloe, Edgar, Curtis, and a few specialists who were brought in and were in the Tech 1 listening in." I said, realizing that I failed to include me and Bill.

"Well, seeing as you and Jack are good friends and Michelle is your ex-wife and you still care for her…"

I was going to stop him there, but then I realized that I didn't really want to discuss my personal feelings with Bill, so I just let him continue.

"…and since you haven't been at CTU for almost two years, I thought you're the least likely to be the one leaking the information and signaling the attack."

"But you don't trust anyone else?" I asked.

"Well, seeing as I've only worked with these people scarcely, and don't know them well enough, my opinion is that anyone here could have signaled the attack. So I think it's best that our discussion here doesn't leave this room."

"I understand," I said. Who could have been the mole? I wondered. I hardly believed that Chloe would be the one, she seemed so dedicated, but you never know. I would have never guessed that Nina was a mole until I had proof.

"How many specialists were listening in?" I asked.

"I think there were three," Bill replied, "I call them in for questioning. I'll handle it." He added.

"No," I said, "we don't want them to be suspicious; we want it to seem casual. I'll handle it."

Just then, as usually, Edgar came bursting through the door in his usual clumsy manner. Geez, I've only known this guy for a day but he's worse than Chloe.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said, "but it's an emergency."

"What is it, Edgar?" Bill asked.

"It's the teams, they're all dead!" he exclaimed, "there were shots ringing out as they were entering the room and one of the men informed us that all of them were dead before he was taken out himself."

"Well, send more teams in," Bill replied.

"No," I said, "If they get killed at the hotel, too, we'll simply be wasting men. Anyways, we can simply kiss that laptop goodbye because whoever killed the teams probably emptied that room of any information that could help us. The best we can do is monitor satellite frames from here to see who came and left from the Courier Hotel, where they're going, and where they came from."

"Let's do that," Bill replied, "but I want some teams in there so they can close off the hotel and stop the panic."

"We'll send a few men," I replied, "but not too many; we need our most experienced teams on standby in case we find the location of the virus."

"Alright, I'll do that," Edgar said and left my office.

"In the meantime, I need the list of the specialists who were listening in and call them in from Tech 1." I said to Bill. We needed to catch that mole quick.

"It's on file 2 of database 6 on the employee file on the COM format." He said.

As I was getting them up on the computer, Bill used my phone to dial Tech 1 and called the specialists who were listening in to the conversation and asked them to work on the main floor to see of they could get anything else off of the audio tape of Michelle and Jack's operation in the hotel before it was cut off.

As he hung up a list of the names and background information came on my screen. I looked at the names of the possible moles; there was Michael Sherman, Lois Kipper, and Keri Turner…. _Whoa, back up!_ Keri Turner? I looked over the name and information over and over again until I was sure it was her. But it couldn't be…

But as I looked up I saw her walk in with two other agents, that annoying smirk on her face. _Oh boy, this is DEFINITELY going to be one of those days…_

**Michelle's POV**

"Do you have a plan?" I asked Jack in the car.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we can't just go and find a small vial in the entire airport of L.A., bustling with lots of people, just the two of us. And if we close down the airport and ground the flights, the terrorists will know we're onto them."

"Don't worry, we'll think of something," he said, as he parked the truck in the airport parking lot.

"How are we going to avoid airport security with guns in or pockets? We don't want them to know we're Federal Agents since anyone of the security guards could be terrorists, so how do we explain the guns?"

Jack took a look around the building and spotted to security guards wandering by, one was sort of small and the other was about Jack's size.

I sighed as I realized what Jack was about to do.

**Tony's POV**

I walked down the steps and came face to face with Keri for the first time in four and a half years.

"Hello, Tony," she said calmly, "I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"Me neither," I replied casually, equally calm, "so, how long have you been at CTU?" I asked.

"Less than an hour, and ever since I got here I never left Tech 1, which is why you never saw me."

"Oh, o.k.," I said, pretending I was actually interested, "why don't you start with this." I added handing her a file of recording information.

"Match up each code in here with the ones on the track system and see if you can pull anything else off of the tape," I told her, "if you find anything, come directly to me."

"Alright," she said. After a pause she said, "I heard what happened to Michelle, they said she and Jack Bauer are probably captured, I also heard you and Michelle are divorced, that must make it hard."

I knew she was trying to annoy me because she was saying something somebody would say to console somebody, but she was deliberately saying it in such a sleazy tone that it sounded like she was enjoying that fact that Michelle was in danger.

I brushed it off, saying, "Yeah, just tell me if you find anything."

But she just wouldn't let it go, "It's a shame your marriage ended so quickly especially after you sacrificed everything for her life. And that's the thanks she gives you? If you ask me…"

"I didn't," I snapped, cutting her off. "Now if you came here to actually get some work done instead of ticking off your former employers, I suggest you get to work at what I told you to. And if working with me, actually, _for_ me, is a problem for you, then I can easily get someone from Division to take your place. Do you understand?" I said, quite proud of myself for telling her off.

"Crystal clear," she replied through gritted teeth. And turned to her computer to get some work done.

I turned to another specialist, who I believed his name was Michael, and asked, "Who was in charge of maintaining connections in Tech 1?" I asked him.

"Keri," he replied, "she was keeping them on the line."

"And what were you doing?" I asked him.

"I was clarifying the recording and Lois was keeping track of other radio signals."

"Alright, thanks," I told him and went back up to my office.

I dialed my phone to Chloe's station, for she was the only one I could trust right now.

"O'Brian," she answered.

"Hey Chloe, its Tony," I said.

"Yeah, I'm working on the satellite images right now, Tony. What do you need, I'm kind of busy." She said.

"Look, let Curtis handle that, I need you to do something for me. And you're the only one I can trust."

"What?" she seemed interested. I knew the way to get to Chloe's heart: blind compliments.

"I have a bad feeling about a specialist named Keri Turner, I need you to monitor her work for me without her knowing, keep track of her calls, and keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior."

"Wouldn't that be against protocol?" she asked.

"Not if the boss says so," I told her, smiling at the fact that I had called myself the boss.

"I don't know, Tony," she said

"Chloe, you're the only one I can trust," I said, trying the compliment method again.

"Oh, alright," she said. I knew it would work. Now I was sure that Keri was the mole, she was the one in charge of keeping connection and it was lost on her watch, it couldn't be a coincidence.

**Michelle's POV**

After knocking the two security guards, we dressed in their clothes and got through the security checks posing as security officers.

Once we were inside, we changed back to our regular clothes so we could blend in with the rest of the crowd.

As we were walking through the airport checking every ventilation system we could find, we came upon a suspicious man which I swear that I had seen before.

"Hey Jack," I said, "I think I've seen that man before, I think he was one of the security guards we passed."

"But he's dressed in regular clothes," Jack replied. And the truth suddenly dawned on us. That man was working for Marwan and he too, had snuck in a security guard's suit.

"Let's follow him," Jack said. We crept behind him and he led us to an empty room where airplane schedules were made.

We ducked behind a steel cabinet and watched him. He checked to make sure that no one was here and took out his cell phone.

He dialed a number and waited. We could only hear his side of the conversation, but that was enough to tell us that he was a terrorist.

"Yes, Marwan…. Yes, I know, but we have a slight problem, but I'll take care of it…. I said I'll take care of it… it's just that the database with all of our plans, it got loaded onto the wrong plane and…. Yes, I understand… I'll take care of it…. It got loaded onto a plane with civilians headed for Chicago… it'll take off in about 30 minutes… yes, I have it all figured out…. Highjack the plane? But that'll draw attention to ourselves… I know that…. We'll have to decrease the time on the timer on the vial then, yes, I can do it… alright then, have Smith do it then, tell him it's vent 16 on the west side by Gate A42…. Yes… Don't worry, nobody's listening…. And even if they were they wouldn't be able to get into vent because I installed a high security system made of Titanium so it can't be broken…. Yes… Only Smith can get in, it's finger print identification…. I know that the information on the database if landed in the wrong hands can foil our plans…. The vial will be released in a matter of one hour…. Decrease the time to 20 minutes? But not every one of our men will be able to escape in time… yes I understand… alright, then… thank you." He hung up the cell phone and started pacing the room.

"Vent 16 on the west side," I whispered to myself, almost inaudibly, "We can't get in without this guy, Marcus Smith. So now what?" I asked Jack.

"Highjack the plane, huh?" Jack said, "I have an idea…" he added with _that_ look in his eyes. And when Jack Bauer says 'I have an idea' with _that_ look in his eyes, it couldn't mean anything good, _especially _if it was followed by the words 'highjack the plane'.

He took at out his gun and two silencers, one for the each of us, loaded his gun and shot the man in the leg.

He screamed in pain as he fell to the floor clutching the bullet wound in his right ankle, trying to crawl away.

"It's over," Jack said, pointing the gun to him, "tell me everything you know about Marwan and the vial in the airport."

"Are you Federal Agents?" he asked, whimpering in pain.

"Yes," I answered, holding up a badge and gun. "Now tell us everything you know."

"Look, I don't know anything more than you just heard," he cried, referring to the call he made.

"Would you like to bet your life on that?" Jack asked, tapping the butt of his gun.

"What flight is the database on?" I asked calmly, I was actually getting used to field work.

"It's…it's on Chicago Airlines, pl-plane 23, gate B29, th-th-that's all I know," he whimpered, shutting his eyes tight like you do when someone's about to hit you.

Jack sighed, turned his gun around and conked the guy's temple with the butt of his gun, knocking him unconscious.

"Let's go, I have an idea," he said. I rolled my eyes, put the gun back in my pocket and followed him out to Gate B29.

**Tony's POV**

"Tony," Curtis said, coming into my office, "Nicole Duncan sent this for you," and he handed me a manila folder.

"Thanks," I told him, and he left. I opened it and realized that it was a list of everyone who worked here and if they were immune or not.

I sighed and took a look at the list, when something caught my eye…

**O.K., so I know this is a T/M story and there hasn't been much fluff, ANY fluff for that matter, but trust me, I know where I'm going with this story, and it'll become a T/M story. So anyways, PLEASE review. And by the way I NEED A SUGGESTION! Who should I make immune to the virus? (other than Tony, cause' I'll decide if I want to make him immune or not). Should I make it someone totally outrageous like Keri, or Chloe, or something? Give me two people who you think should be immune to the virus, and I'll take your suggestions into consideration. Speaking of suggestions, GIMME MORE! I can't get enough of them! So if you have an idea, TELL ME! And once again, thank you to everyone who reviews! If I haven't made a note to you in the beginning of my chapters, yet, then I'll get around to it, don't worry. Thanks! **


	5. The Not So Perfect Plan

**Not as many reviews as last time, but I'm still floored. Thanks you guys. **

**Freelancer-babe: You have your wish, just sit tight.**

**Trudelutt: Chloe, huh? Interesting…**

**Ourania211: Will do, thanks for reviewing.**

**Amy: Carrie, huh? That makes sense. And you're right, Michelle is pretty experienced in the field, my bad.**

**Dazzi: Don't worry, there will be fluff, in this story, that's a promise I make to all of my readers, just sit tight. **

**Chapter 5 – The Not-So-Perfect Plan  
**

**Tony's POV**

I let out a sigh of frustration as I saw my name and next to it were the words 'not immune'. I checked over the list to see who was immune and I saw Chloe, Curtis and Keri were. Send Chloe into the field? The thought just made me groan. And Keri? I can't really trust her. In fact why shouldn't she be immune? She must be working for them, and they probably have an antidote or vaccination for the virus. But at least there was Curtis, he was a good asset in the field. They're probably opening their results right now. With that Keri walked in to my office with a smile on her face, I'm guessing she knew about her not being immune.

"Tony, here are the reports you asked for," Keri said, handing them to me in my office.

I looked them over and said, "Alright, I need you to take part of Chloe's load then, she's a little busy."

"Why?" Keri asked, I knew exactly where she was going with this.

"I put her on something else," I responded, playing it cool.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Playing solitaire," I replied sarcastically. "An assignment, what else would I put her on?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Tony," Keri said, knowing something was up. _Of course something was up, I was having Chloe monitor Keri's system, but like I'm going to tell her that._ "You and I have been through this before," she added, fire in her eyes.

"And look where it got you," I said in a harsh tone, referring to her crappy, low-paying job at Division due to her demotion for CTU. And I put in a bad word for her; I could tell she still wasn't over it. But I wouldn't just do that because I didn't like her, although that was part of it, it was that she didn't work well with others and instead of doing her own workload she kept trying to snoop around and find something that others were doing wrong. In fact, I'm the one who demoted her.

I could see the anger bubble in her eyes, and quite frankly, I enjoyed it. "You took the words right out of my mouth," she snapped, - and I'm pretty sure she was referring to my time in jail, suffering marriage and unemployment - and walked away furiously.

I picked up my phone and dialed Chloe's workstation.

"O'Brian," she answered.

"Did you find anything on Keri?" I asked, for that was the "assignment" I had put her on.

"Well, she seems clean so far, but there's one thing I can't explain."

"What's that?"

"She spent some times on an unlisted file, which I can't retrieve, and it wasn't for Division because it didn't have a ROW Major format."

"You think it could be an out-of-state file?" I asked, trying not to jump to conclusions.

"No, she wasn't assigned any out-of-state files."

"What about transfer agencies?"

"No, she doesn't have that kind of clearance."

"I see, where is the file now?"

"She sent it off somewhere I can't trace, but it could've been anything, an e-mail, a logged in phone call, a database, anything."

"So let's say that there's a perfectly logical explanation for this unknown file, then she'd be completely clean, right?"

"Exactly."

"Alright, thanks Chloe, call me when you have something."

After I hung up, I looked up the log-ins to Edgar's, Curtis's, Chloe's, Keri's and the two other specialists systems. I looked up the time of the attack and what they were doing on their systems at that exact time.

The only ones who weren't on an assignment were Keri, and myself. Everybody else was in the clear. Now I was 100 sure it was Keri who was leaking information.

With that, Bill came into my office and said, "You have an idea on who the mole is?"

"My strong feeling is that it's Keri Turner," I said, knowing Bill was unaware of our history.

Then I explained to him all of the information I found. "So that pretty much narrows it down to her." I said.

"So we should take her in for questioning then," Bill said.

"No, not until we have proof." I sighed and asked, "How is Edgar coming along with those satellite photos, then?"

"That's why I asked if you had found the mole." He sighed and said, "They've been deleted."

"What?" I asked in disbelief, "but then we can't know who went inside the hotel during the time of the attack."

"Well someone must have deleted it."

"But Keri doesn't have that kind of clearance, she couldn't have…"

"Which is why I think she's working with someone up in Division, they have that kind of clearance. It's the only way she could've deleted the photos."

"Well, we can't make that our top priority, yet," I said. "We need to find Jack and Michelle and that vial before it's too late. In the meantime, have someone monitor Keri's work and give her low security assignments."

"And how are we going to find the vial?" Bill asked, as we walked down the stairs to the main floor.

"Just think, if you were a terrorist, where in L.A. would you release a deadly virus?"

"What about a big hotel?" Edgar asked, overhearing our conversation.

"No, they tried that last time. They wouldn't do it again. Besides, people in hotels would simply tour L.A.; that would only spread the disease throughout the city. They'd target something bigger…"

"What about the airport?" Curtis asked.

"Actually," I said, "that's a good suggestion. Curtis, I want you to monitor the L.A. airport for any suspicious behavior."

"Alright," he said, and walked away.

I walked up to my office and sat down in my chair, thinking about Michelle. Horrible memories came back about us fighting, me getting drunk, her crying; there were too many of them.

_"Michelle, this is crazy and you know it!" I yelled._

_"The only thing that's crazy is you!" she yelled, shutting her suitcase. _

_"Michelle, you're going to come back and you know it! Now unpack the suitcase!"_

_"I'm not coming back, Tony! Why won't you understand!"_

_"What, so you're leaving me? I spent a year in jail, threw away my entire life for you, and this is the thanks I'm getting!" I yelled throwing our wedding album on the wall._

_She took one last look at me with her tear-stained face. "I don't even know you anymore, Tony. You're a mess. And if you want to live a life of nothing, then fine! You can do it without me!" she picked up her suitcase and stated to leave._

_"I'm a mess!" I yelled in disbelief. "I'm a mess because of YOU! I don't deserve this Michelle! I don't deserve unemployment or being branded a traitor at all! I made a mistake, ONE mistake!"_

_I could tell Michelle's face had softened and she had tears welling in her eyes. She had dropped her suitcase and I could tell she felt sorry for me, but then I pushed it too far._

_"And that mistake was marrying YOU!"_

_She got herself together and simply said, "I'll mail the divorce papers to you," and then she left, and walked right out of the front door, right out of our marriage, right out of my life, OUR life._

And here I am today, waiting to her any news from her. Waiting in vain. I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt, I just couldn't.

**Michelle's POV**

"You ready?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," I muttered. I didn't like this idea one bit.

The co-pilot for the airplane that had the database on it was walking by and Jack suddenly jumped in front of him and covered his mouth and nose with a dirty rag. He gave him a hit in the head and knocked him unconscious.

"How many people have we knocked unconscious today, Jack?' I asked him, rolling my eyes.

He simply smiled and dragged the body into a corner. After dressing in the pilot's clothing, Jack put his gun in his pocket and said "Let's go."

The plan was that Jack would board the plane and "highjack" it, just as the man told Marwan. This way we can ground the flights and close off the airport, and Marwan won't know that there are Federal Agents here. He'll think that it's one of his own men trying to get the database from the plane. This way, if the virus does happen to get released, it can be contained within the airport. In the meantime I'll be waiting at the vent for Marcus Smith to come and open up the security system change the timer on the vial. One the system is open, my job is to take him down and turn off the vial. Once that is done, I'll signal to Jack that it's done, and he'll land the plane. Hopefully, for once, our plan might actually work.

"Be careful Michelle," Jack said, as he was about to board the plane.

"Thanks, you too," I said as I watched Jack board the plane. This better work.

**Tony's POV**

I had been sitting there for about ten minutes, thinking about Michelle, until phone ringing interrupted my thoughts.

"Tony," Keri said, "I need clearance to get into Edgar's system."

"Why do you need it?" I asked.

"Because Chloe asked me to get some work done and I need his system to do it."

I sighed and said, "Keri just do what you're told to do. Are you finished with the hourly?"

"No, but…"

"Then do that," I said and hung up on her. I got up and walked down to see how Edgar was doing in recovering the deleted satellite images.

Before I could even open my mouth, Keri pops up out of no where and starts with me, "Tony, I need clearance."

"Well, you're not getting any," I told her.

"Why don't you give me any higher clearance assignments, you may as well have me alphabetize the filing cabinet!" she exclaimed, clearly pissed.

"That's a good idea, why don't you get started on that and get off my back?" I responded coolly and walked of to Edgar's station.

"Tony!" she exclaimed, following me, "this is unfair; you can't just let a grudge affect my work. What's wrong?"

I sighed and blurted out, "What was the unknown file you were working on?"

"What?" she asked, taken aback.

"Chloe detected a file which she couldn't trace or retrieve on your system. What was it?"

"None of your business," she replied solemnly after a pause.

"Well it better become my business quick if you want to keep your job."

She seemed confused at first, but then her face drew a look of pensiveness as she pieced it together. "Do you…? You can't possibly… do you think I'm leaking information?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I do," I replied bluntly. "You were in charge of maintaining connection and it just happened to get cut off. You were working on an unknown assignment at the time of the attack, you were working on an unknown phone call, and you just "happened" to be immune to the virus. I was going to wait until I had proof until I confronted you, but the evidence speaks for itself. Now, are you going to tell us what we need to know, or do we have to put you in a holding room?"

"This is insane!" she yelled, drawing the attention of many of the people on the main floor. "Look, I know this all seems like I'm leaking information, but you have to believe me, I'm not doing anything wrong!" she said, hysterical.

"Then what was that file?" I asked.

She let out a sigh and started quietly, "It was an e-mail…, to my ex-boyfriend. He's threatening me. I didn't want to deal with it in the middle of all of this, so I just e-mailed him to stop. And I didn't want anyone to know, that's why it was encrypted."

"Can you bring it up for us? And then Chloe can check it out and see if you're in the clear." I said. I was almost beginning to believe her.

She wordlessly led me to her computer and brought it up. Chloe checked it out and said, "Yeah, it's the one I saw, she's clean."

I sighed for the millionth time today as Keri said, "Are you happy now?"

"I'll get you a level four clearance," I told her and walked up to my office, completely puzzled.

_If it's not Keri, than who can it be?_ I racked my brain for an answer, until the phone rang.

"Almeida," I answered.

"Tony, you asked me to tell you if there was any unusual behavior at the L.A. airport." Curtis said into the phone.

"Well? Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, all of the planes have been grounded, and all flights have been cancelled and the airport has been closed down. No one can come in or out."

"Why?"

"Apparently there was a high-jacking on a plane to Chicago, and airport security has a reason to believe that there are more terrorists within the building. The pilot was able to identify the high-jacker as a blonde man, about 40, before he was taken out."

_Blonde man? About 40 years of age?_ It suddenly pieced together. Jack! He was trying to close down the airport in case the virus was released, or if it was already. But it doesn't make sense, the terrorists will find out that Jack is on that plane, what is he thinking?

"Thanks for notifying me Curtis," I said, and hung up before giving him time to speak.

If Jack was there, then Michelle must be as well. They must have figured out that there was a mole and pretended that they were captured.

As I pieced together everything that happened, I realized that I needed to push this mole situation aside and get myself all the way over to the L.A. airport. I couldn't tell anybody about my leaving, for all I know, anybody could be the mole.

I grabbed my jacket and my gun and headed out the door.

**Michelle's POV**

RING! I was in the basement with Marwan's man who had a bullet in his ankle, was now awake, and whose name I now know is Zarine; when his phone rang.

Lying helplessly on the floor, he took out his cell and said weakly, "It's Marwan."

I took out my gun and held it against his head. "Answer it, and tell him exactly what we went over. One mistake, and I won't hesitate to pull the trigger. You understand?"

He nodded and picked up the phone, saying "Yes, Marwan."

**Marwan**: What is going on? I asked you to retrieve the database, not to close down the airport. Now the virus is going to be contained inside.

**Zarine**: How did you know about the airport being closed down?

**Marwan**: My insider told me that a report of a highjaking was sent out to all government agencies.

**Zarine**: Relax, Marwan. It's a fake status report I had the airport security send out. The airport is running fine and well.

**Marwan**: Why did you do that?

**Zarine**: Think about it, Habib. Why would CTU suspect a closed down airport to be the location of the virus? They wouldn't; they'd just think that it's a simple highjacking. And they won't give much thought to the airport's closing down, because they're first priority is to contain the virus. It's the perfect plan.

**Marwan**: (sighs) Alright, but you should have run this through me first.

**Zarine**: My apologies, it'll never happen again.

**Marwan**: Good (hangs up)

"You did well," I said, taking the cell phone from him and putting the gun in my holster. Now that we had Marwan out of the way, we need to stop the vial from being released.

The plan was to wait until Smith opened the security system, for it can only open with his fingerprint.

As I stated to leave, Zarine called, "Wait! You're not going to leave me here, are you?" He asked, cringing from the pain in his leg. I decided to put him out of his misery and knocked him unconscious with the butt of my gun and headed out the door.

I arrived outside the ventilation system and hid behind a steel cabinet. It was only a matter of minutes before Smith showed up. I recognized him from the two pictures I have seen of him and was certain it was him. He was a tall, slender man, with dark blonde hair.

As he approached the door of the system, I got out my gun and silently crept closer to him. I cocked the butt of my gun and got ready to fire.

I'm not sure how he managed to see me at the last minute, but I guess it was just bad luck. With that, I fired a few shots, all of them missed.

He took cover behind a pillar and started to fire shots at me. It went on this way for a couple minutes until I realized that I was running low on ammo.

I saw that Smith had opened the door before I started to fire the shots and that if I was careful, I could get inside.

I decided to take a chance and darted into the ventilation room. After a few minutes of running I thought I had lost him.

I kept my gun in hand just in case he came at me again. It didn't take long to find the vial, it was in front of one of the biggest fans. I approached it and found that there was a control panel on there. If I pressed the off button, it would only turn the vial off temporarily, but if used Smith's fingerprint on the control panel, I could turn it off for good. I pressed the off button and decided to take the vial with me back to CTU.

This way, Smith won't be able to turn on the vial again. Just as I thought, I had everything solved and that this was the perfect plan, I heard a click of a gun and somebody say, "Drop the vial, and put the gun down, now."

I turned around and it was Smith, standing there with a gun pointed at me. I put my gun down and my hands up. "Now step away from the fan." I obeyed and stepped away.

"How much do you know?" he asked. Answered with silence, he repeated angrily, "How much do you know!" Once again, silence greeted him. With that, he swung his arm and the back of his hand struck my face, knocking me over.

"You know too much," he said, "you shouldn't have come here." I simply sat there, propped up against the wall, figuring that it was over.

He pulled back the butt of his gun and I closed my eyes, expecting him to pull the trigger. It was just then I heard shots fly through the air. Everything seemed to darken, but it took me a couple of seconds to realize that was because I had my eyes squeezed shut.

I slowly dared to open them and through the smoke I saw a wide eyed Smith, with two bullet holes in his stomach. He collapsed to the floor, revealing the shooter, -- gun in hand, teeth gritted, and eyes steel cold -- and I have never been more relieved in my life.

**Tony's POV**

The look of relief on her face relaxed my tense muscles and I put the gun down. I slowly started to walk towards her knelt down besides her.

"Michelle?" I asked softly.

"Yeah," she mumbled, nursing the bruise on her face where she had been hit. None of us really knew what to say, so I just wordlessly helped her up.

After an awkward silence she started, "How did you find me?"

I explained to her about the mole and how we were still on square one on who it was, the call, me piecing everything together and coming here.

"How did you know what vent to look in?"

"I didn't," I told her, "I was going to check every vent, and this was the third vent that I checked and I happened to find the door open."

"Oh," was her quiet response.

"And what's going on with your guys' plan here? Where's Jack?"

Then she explained to me about Zarine, and the database, Jack on the plane, them and thinking that there's a mole.

"I should give him the signal that the virus is caught," she said. She took out her phone and dialed Jack and then put it on speaker.

"Hey Jack, we have the virus, and Smith's dead."

"Who's 'we'?" he asked.

"Hi Jack," I said, and I told him everything I found, and everything that had happened.

"Alright," he said, "I'm landing the plane now, you guys should see me in about ten to twenty minutes. Bye"

Michelle put her cell phone in her pocket and said. "So I guess we better be leaving before anyone comes looking for the vial, huh?" she added.

And I simply gave her my usual, "yeah."

We both started for the fan and then she suddenly stopped, "Um, Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," she said, with the hint of a smile on her face.

I simply smiled at her, and we both sort of stared for a minute until I broke the silence and said, "So where should take the vial?"

"With us, back to CTU. We can use it to come up with a cure, perhaps." She said.

"Alright then did you turn it off?" I asked.

"Yeah, but only temporarily," she said, "We need a fingerprint to turn it off permanently, and I'm guessing that it's Smith's."

We dragged the body up to the fan and held out his hand. I pressed Smith's thumbprint onto the screen on the control panel and after scanning it for a few seconds, the screen on the vial read, 'Outbreak has been stopped.'

"I think it worked," Michelle replied, "Let's go, Jack's probably landing the plane right now."

"For once, one of our plans actually worked, huh?" I said, and we both laughed at that. I think this actually was a perfect plan.

But just as we headed out the door, we heard a click of the gun and a familiar voice say, "Not so fast."

**O.K., chapter six will initiate the T/M stuff. So basically now the two of them are captured together and have to work together to get themselves out. So for all of you T/M fans, JUST SIT TIGHT! **

**And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanx! **


	6. You have a Hacksaw?

**Wow, it's been a while since I've updated, sorry about that. I've been busy. Anyways, here's chapter six, hope you like it, and if you don't, feel free to let me know why. I accept anonymous reviews, so you guys don't have any excuse to not review! Thanks!**

**Amy: Tony saving Michelle's life was kinda cool, huh? I will keep writing after this, but I'm thinking of doing a s2 T/M story, I'll let you know what it's about once this fic is over, and you can tell me what you think.**

**HelloKitty87: Sorry for the long wait, even though you made it clear that you wanted a quick update, but I've had TONS of dance rehearsals, we have a show coming up, so I didn't have much time, but don't worry, here it is. **

**Chapter 6 – You have a Hacksaw? **

**Michelle's POV**

We heard the click of a gun and a familiar voice say, "Not so fast."

I turned around and gasped, immediately recognizing who it was, "Bill?" I asked in disbelief.

"_You_ were the mole?" Tony asked, in equal disbelief. There in front of us, Bill stood with a gun pointed at us.

"Put the gun down," he replied calmly. Tony and I exchanged glances and put our guns down.

"And your phones," he said, and we complied.

"Hands up," he said, looking down at Smith's dead body.

"The satellite images, the attack being signaled, it was all you!" Tony exclaimed, the anger evident in his eyes.

Bill remained silent as he searched Smith's body, gun still pointed at us.

"Bill?" I started, "Is this really you, do you really want to do this?" I asked softly and nicely. "I mean, all those people, Bill, it's wrong…"

"Shut up!" He yelled, taking me by surprise. "You don't know anything about what's right and especially about what's wrong!"

Tony and I stood there, silent and confused. I still couldn't believe that Bill was behind all of this. All this time we were looking for a mole, but Bill? I couldn't believe it.

Gun still pointed at us, he picked up his cell phone.

"Yes…" he said into the phone, "I ran into a bit of a problem. My cover is blown, don't worry, only two agents. Yes, I'll get rid of them…," with that he looked up at us. "Yes, but I want to get a bit of information out of them first. They used Smith to permanently turn off the vial….. It's no problem; we'll simply take this one and use the other one and go to plan B. ….. Alright, then, bye." And he hung up.

"You guys are coming with me," he said, and walked us out to the car with his gun still pointed at us.

We headed out of the airport and walked to a van with several men in it, and the last thing I remember is everything suddenly going black.

**Jack's POV**

This is the third time I've called them both and still no avail. It's not like Tony or Michelle to turn their phones off like that; they said they'd meet me at the gate where I landed the plane.

It took forever to explain to the pilot and passengers that I was a Federal Agent and that this wasn't a real terrorist attack. So I called some back-up teams from CTU and explained everything that had happened and closed the area.

But now, just when I thought everything had gone according to plan, Tony and Michelle were not to be seen.

So I headed over to the vent where they were at and I saw their cell phones lying on the ground, along with their guns and two-ways. "What the hell?" I asked.

I immediately dialed Curtis, who was with the teams trying to calm people down. "Manning," he said.

"Curtis, I need you to send teams out looking for Tony and Michelle, they're not here." I said.

"I thought you said that they contained the vial and were on their way to meet you at the gate?" he replied.

"Yeah, they were, but apparently someone got to them first."

"But the only way someone could have known they were there was if they were…"

"If they were a mole…" I finished. This was our guy. "Curtis, who's missing form CTU right now?"

"Let me check the records…." Then he suddenly went quiet.

"Curtis?"

"Bill," he replied, "it's Bill."

Bill? That definitely wasn't what I was expecting. "When's the last time he was seen?"

"He was said to have gone back to Division for a phone meeting."

"And no one has seen him since?"

"Yeah," Curtis replied.

"What vehicle is missing from the department?"

"Let me check the records… a black SUV with the license plate of 2HD88CK. It was found in the parking lot, completely empty. He must have switched vehicles."

"Alright, monitor the satellite images and see if you find anything." And I hung up. I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed.

**Tony's POV**

I remember waking up with something rather soft underneath me and realized that it was hay.

I looked around and saw that we were in a deserted, wooden, barn with piles of hay everywhere. And I saw besides me, a sleeping and unconscious Michelle, hair let loose and slightly in her face.

Without waking Michelle up, I immediately headed for the door. It was locked. I checked for windows and holes and other forms of exits but I found nothing. "Damn!" I muttered.

This woke Michelle up as she slowly and groggily rubbed her eyes and brushed the hay out of her hair. This was the first time I actually saw her hair let down without her curls. I didn't like it.

I mean it was still pretty, very. But her curls, they made her look soft, gentle. Her straight hair made her look cold and distant, something she's not, or at least wasn't.

"What the hell?" she asked, looking around, "Where are we?"

"Some deserted barn, probably, maybe they're holding us here." I said, sitting down next to her. It was then I noticed a large bruise on the side of her face.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the side of her face.

"Oh," she replied, softly touching the bruise, "it's where Smith had hit me. It's no big deal."

"Are you sure?" I asked, taking a better look at the bruise, "It looks pretty bad." I touched the side of her face with the bruise.

She quickly pulled back at my touch, and seeing my hurt and disappointment from this, she hesitated and saying, "Um, uh, it's, uh, sensitive to touch…" she said, lightly grasping the side of her face where my fingers had just been.

With that, the door opened and a few men with guns appeared. One was carrying a laptop and one had a taser gun.

"Put that over there, Jordan," one of the men said. He looked like the main leader. He was average height, black hair, about 30, maybe 35 years old and looked like one of those high school sweethearts.

He sat down right in front of us, gun in hand. "Let me get this straight," he said, "Tony Almeida, ex-director of CTU, and Michelle Dessler, ex-wife."

I was wondering how he knew that until he laughed for a second and said, reading my thoughts, "I read about you guys, it's in your file."

He continued, "And the irony of it all is that he sacrificed everything to save your life." I could see Michelle look away from the corner of my eye as he said that. "Interesting, very interesting."

There were two men on either side of us, one holding a gun to Michelle's head and one holding a gun to mine, which prevented either one us of from moving.

"Tie them up," he ordered.

Once our hands and feet were bound with ropes tightly, we were placed about five ten feet from each other and the men were still holding guns to our heads and we were sitting on stacks of hay while Marwan's man sat on a chair in front of us the way Jack Bauer would do when he's interrogating someone.

"Which one should we question, James?" one of the other men, I think it was Jordan, asked the leader.

"It's Mr. Lenten to you," James Lenten said, "and I'll handle the questioning."

He turned back to us, and said, "Now, you see, as you already know, I had an insider, Bill Buchanan." The minute he said the words "_had_ an insider", I knew exactly where this was going.

"You see, he made a mistake, and that was you guys ever finding the vial at the airport. So he got what he deserved, a bullet in his head. But our little problem is that it wasn't until after we killed him we realized that we needed access to CTU logs. But you see, Bill is dead, so we can't get that access, that is, unless you two are kind enough to help us out."

He scooted closer to Michelle and continued, "but of course, if you don't give us what we want, we'll only have to force it out of you."

My eyes immediately ran to the guy with the taser gun and just looking at it made me cringe.

Now Lenten was sitting so close to Michelle that they're faces were inches apart, her glare piercing cold. I hated him being so close to her; it just sent shivers down my spine.

"But it does seem a shame," he said, fingers stroking her face, with Michelle struggling in her ropes, trying to get away from his reach, "to hurt something, so beautiful."

The rest of the goons simply nodded in agreement with piteous smirks on their faces and a few gave a small hoot.

"Go to hell," she replied, looking Lenten in the eye, not a hint of fear in her eyes or voice, but instead a hint of steel.

Lenten simply smiled and said while unzipping her jacket, "Well, what do we have here? Fire and ice, I see. I like it."

"Leave her alone," I demanded, Michelle unable to do anything but struggle, because of the ropes tied around her.

"Shut up!" he yelled. He rode his hand up her chest, and she struggled even more, saying through gritted teeth, "Get away from me!"

"Let her go!" I yelled, pulling and throwing myself around in the chair with the ropes restraining me.

"Will somebody shut this guy up, for me?" Lenten demanded. With that, two of the men got up, one tied a sash around mouth and the other struck my face with he butt of his gun, and then held the gun pointed at me.

All I could do was struggle and watch in vain. But fortunately, his cell phone rang only seconds later. He sighed, let go of Michelle, and picked it up. "Yeah," he answered.

"No, I haven't gotten access to the CTU logs yet, yeah I know…. I was just playing around…. Don't worry, you'll get it, alright? Bye."

He hung up and turned to Michelle and said, "Sorry sweetie, but I have to get that information out of you, we can play later." He smirked. She shot him a piercing glare and then looked over in my direction.

"Now, what is the access code for the CTU logs?" he asked her, his face still inches from hers.

Of course, Michelle sat there quietly, not uttering a word.

"Boss," one of the henchmen said, "should we get rid of this Almeida guy? He was rehired on a provisional basis; he wouldn't know this kind of classified information."

"Actually, you know what? You just gave me an idea. Tanner? The taser, please," Lenten said.

"What are you going to do with it?" Tanner asked.

"We're gonna use it on Almeida here," he said, with a huge smirk on his face.

I gulped. "But I don't get it. Why him?"

"Because," he continued, "Dessler is immune to the virus, we need her alive and well."

"You want her to do our dirty work for us?"

"Exactly. In the meantime, the more she resists telling us the access codes, the more Almeida will get the beating." The smirk on his face got wider, "get the taser."

I swallowed hard, and Michelle and I exchanged glances. I shot her a look telling her not to tell them anything, and I know she understood, but guessing by her unsure expression, I wasn't sure if she'd comply.

**Michelle's POV**

I squeezed my eyes shut I saw them take another swing at Tony with the taser gun. I heard him let out a small yell of pain which made me feel even worse.

"Stop it! Stop!" I yelled. I didn't know what to do. If I gave them access to CTU logs, then I'd practically be giving them access to blow up the country, but on the other hand, I didn't know how much more Tony could take.

Lenten put the gun down and came closer to me. "Are you going to tell us this time, or are we going to have to kill him before you come to your senses?"

I looked over to Tony, and he shook his head, indicating to me that I shouldn't tell him. "It's, uh," I started, "it's, um…." _God, help me, anything to stall time._

Just then, Lenten's phone rang. _Did I call that or what?_ Tony and I let out a sigh of relief as frustration flashed across Lenten's face.

He fished out his phone and answered, "Yeah?"

Again, the volume was so high on his phone, that we could hear Marwan on the other end.

"Lenten, you fool!" Marwan yelled. "You picked out the wrong barn!"

Lenten stood up, gestured for one of his henchmen to watch us, then started pacing the barn. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "How could this be the wrong barn?"

"It isn't deserted!" Marwan yelled in response, "it's held for storage of secret computers for the government agencies, they monitor these places; they'll know that you've been here!"

"Can't we use that to our advantage? I mean, if the government stores computers here, then we can use them to access to their logs?"

"No, they're empty; they don't store computers with information here, just ones for backup."

"So what do we do?"

"_You_ get yourself, Almeida, and Dessler the hell out of there! Bring them over to Long Beach, I'll question them myself."

"Should we question them in the car? She was about to break."

"No, I want to handle this myself, I don't want you meddling with them anymore, you've had your fun."

"But Marwan…" Lenten protested.

"You have my orders."

"Alright, but we need the girl alive," Lenten said.

"Why is that?"

"Because, there was, well, a miscalculation…"

"A miscalculation?" Marwan roared, clearly outraged. _A miscalculation, maybe this isn't so bad._

"Yes, well, you see, the room with the backup vials, well, one of them had an outburst. We can't go in there without being infected."

"And what about the bio-suits?" Marwan asked, clearly annoyed.

Lenten looked down like a little child who was being punished by his parents and said, "they're in the room with the vials."

"What!" Marwan roared even louder than the last time. "Listen, Lenten, you were prepared to die for your cause, and you still will!"

"But, if I don't have to, then why…."

"I don't care!" Marwan yelled, "if she gets away, then everything we worked for would go down the drain! I don't want any missing links!"

"So what do you want me to do with them?" Lenten asked, and I held my breath.

"Once I'm satisfied that they've told us all they know, kill them." And he hung up.

Tony and exchanged glances as we were being taken out to the van.

"Any ideas?" I asked him

"You have a hacksaw?" he asked.

"Of course not," I responded in confusion.

"Then no," he said, and we were dragged into the van.

**HeHe, hacksaw, I couldn't help myself. For those of you who are familiar with season 1, you'd know what the hacksaw thing was all about. **

**Anyways, reviews are GREATLY appreciated! So keep 'em coming if you want my story to keep coming! **

**And feel ABSOLUTELY free to leave criticism, (even if it's harsh) I don't mind flames, I'd like it if you told me what's wrong with my story. **


	7. Lost

**Anyways, reviews are GREATLY appreciated! So keep 'em coming if you want my story to keep coming! **

**And feel ABSOLUTELY free to leave criticism, (even if it's harsh) I don't mind flames, I'd like it if you told me what's wrong with my story. **

**Oh, and you guys are right, the hacksaw was in s2, not s1. Typo, sorry. **

**Amy: I'm still wondering what kind of story my next fanfic should be. If you have any suggestion for s2 stories, then please e-mail me. **

**HelloKitty87: Thanks, the show went pretty well.**

**Chapter 7 – Lost **

**Jack's POV**

"Did you find anything?" I asked. I was now at CTU and the top priority was now to find Tony and Michelle. I had assumed the position of CTU director until I was needed out in the field, then Curtis would take over.

"No," Chloe replied, "it doesn't look like they went through any main streets or highways."

"Alright, then make a list of any unaccounted vehicles in the west parking lot of the airport." I told her.

"That will take forever, and there would be like a million possibilities!" she argued.

"Just do it Chloe, that's an order!" I replied angrily. Geez! Doesn't she just know when to let it go?

"Look Jack, I know you must be dipped in a whole lot of guilt, but you can't just blow your top off for no reason!"

"Chloe…" I started.

"…I mean I know Tony and Michelle were your friends…"

"Chloe…"

"….and Tony saved your life today….."

"Chloe!" I exclaimed. I sighed, _gosh, doesn't she_ _know when to just SHUT UP!_ "Just…, just get that list for me." I told her quietly.

I walked away and I could just feel Chloe roll her eyes at me. I walked over to Edgar and said, "Who's in charge of managing active protocol?"

"Um, I think it's Keri Turner," he replied, and pointed her out to me. _Keri Turner? I feel like I've heard that name before._

"Thanks," I said and walked up to her. "Ms. Turner?" I asked her.

She turned around and said, "Yes."

"I need you to add this to active protocol," I told her, handing her a floppy disk.

She took the disk from me and said, "Alright," as if I was a complete stranger who just walked up to her out of the blue, "you're taking over as Director of CTU?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, extending my hand out to her as common courtesy, "I'm Jack Bau…"

"I know," she interrupted. "I was here when the nuclear bomb went off, and you and Michelle were on your little goose chase, against protocol."

_Now I remember her, she was that annoying little analyst who was demoted to another department after a couple weeks. Tony told me about how she was the reason that most of our plans to get the chip proving that the Cypress recording was fake, were foiled._

I withdrew my hand and said, "Just do what I told you, and add a security lock to module three."

"I don't have that kind of clearance," she said.

"Fine, then I'll just ask Edgar to do it," I said, and began to walk away.

"I could do it better than Edgar, if you could just give me the clearance," she said.

"Just stick to protocol Ms. Turner," I told, getting very annoyed.

"Oh, so now the famous Jack Bauer is going to going to lecture me on protocol?" she retorted sarcastically. "Talk about irony?"

I turned back to her and said, now very angry, "You want a different clearance? Well, what do you have right now?"

"Level three," she said, arms crossed and with an annoying smirk on her face.

"Well, then congratulations, you now have a level two." I told her, and watched the smirk on her face die away.

I walked away and she followed saying, "But you can't do that, you're only here on a provisional basis."

"True, but I'm still in charge, and I don't trust you," I told her. And I walked away from her and headed up to Tony's office. Even though it was now my office temporarily, and it was supposed to be Michelle's, I still thought of it as Tony's office. And some day it's going to become his.

"Jack," Curtis called hovering over Chloe's chair with Edgar working on a computer right next to her, "I think you might want to take a look at this."

I walked over to them and Edgar said, "It's an old barn where our government agencies store extra computers; there was a gray van with no plates which just left the barn almost half an hour ago."

"And it matches on of the unidentified cars in the west parking lot of the airport," Chloe said, "what are the odds?"

"Alright, I want you to check every satellite image, gas station, and possible pit stop to see if you can track the van." I said

My mind raced to what Tony and Michelle must be going through. I'm pretty sure that they were the last person either one of them would want to be stuck in this situation with.

**Tony's POV**

Lenten and Jordan were arguing in the front seat of he van as we drove away from the barn, and Michelle and I were tied up in the back seat.

"Michelle," I whispered to her, "I think I have a plan."

Her face lit up, "What is it?" she whispered back.

"Well, you're not exactly going to like it," I said, and to my displeasure her ever so small smile died away and she sighed.

"Well," I continued, "He said that we were going to Long Beach, right? Well on the way we're going to drive by a lake pretty soon." (**A.N.: I know that there probably aren't very many lakes in L.A., but that's why it's called fiction.)**

"How do you know that?" Michelle asked.

We had driven to Long Beach for our first weekend away together, just the two of us; we had been dating for about two months. We stopped off on our way for some food; it was about 6:30, sunset time. We were going to get back in the car a drive away to Long Beach, but we decided to spend the evening on the dock, due to the beautiful sunset by the lake.

And of all of the fathers and daughters, who were going boating on that very dock, that very evening, guess which one it was. Jack and Kim, and to their surprise they found us making out on the dock. They were the first ones to know about us.

They came up to us from behind and said all of a sudden, "Having fun?" It caught Michelle off guard so much; she nearly toppled off the dock and into the lake if I hadn't had my grip on her.

I would always remember that for the rest of my life. I felt a knife stab my heart as I realized that she didn't remember, how can she not? Or is she just saying that because she didn't want me to know that she still remembered.

"We went to Long Beach for our…" but I cut myself off there once I actually comprehended what I was saying.

She paused and looked up at me, and just for that one second, our eyes met and I saw something familiar in her eyes. I couldn't make it out, but it reminded me of when I first met her. She forced herself to drag her eyes to the floor and said, "Oh," she paused, "what about the lake?"

"Well, if we could create a distraction, we might be able to drive the car into the lake."

"Are you crazy? With these ropes restraining us, it'll be impossible to make it out alive! That's your plan for an escape?" she asked, disappointment clear in her voice.

"Do you have any ideas?" I asked, anger filling my voice.

She sighed, "No, what do we do exactly?"

"Okay, so this is how it's going to work…"

**Michelle's POV**

I held my breath as Lenten and Jordan stepped out of the van. The back window of the van was cranked open a little bit. We managed to break an empty beer bottle in the back without Lenten or Jordan noticing. And there was too much noise from their arguing, the wind blowing and noise on the boardwalk to hear the glass break.

So we managed to chuck a bit of broken glass out the window and onto the tire without Lenten or Jordan noticing, so now the tire was punctured.

The two had gone outside to check what was wrong with the tire. They had parked the car on the dock and locked all of the doors. We couldn't get out and the only way to drive the car

Now we were alone in the car, with the keys in the ignition.

"Quick, get a piece of broken glass from the back," Tony said. A handed one to him and he used it to cut our ropes.

He went up to the front seat and said, "grab his phone, and get in the front seat," he ordered hastily.

"I still don't get it, why the lake?" I asked him while I got in the front seat and fastened my seat belt.

"Because then we can't be tracked," he replied, "if we escape and stay in the city, they'll easily find us."

That's when I saw Lenten look back and realize that we had gotten free from the ropes.

"Tony! Hurry!" I exclaimed. He started the car, turned it around and drove straight into the lake.

I squeezed my eyes shut and the last thing I remember is everything going black…

**Tony's POV**

"Michelle!" I exclaimed trying to wake her up. She had hit her head on something in the car, and had been knocked unconscious.

The door had gotten stuck in the water so I grabbed her and we climbed out of the window, quickly swimming to the surface of the lake.

My eyes settled to the land on the other side of the lake, I put my arm around Michelle's waist and swam to the land.

Once we had reached it, I pulled her up on the ground and checked her pulse. She was still breathing, but it wasn't steady.

"Michelle! Can you hear me?" I asked rather loudly. I looked up and around for help and was only greeted by silence. We had reached a part of land, probably right off the highway where it was only jungle and forest. **(A/N: A.K.A: same place where Kim had her little cougar incident.) **

I opened her jacket and furiously pumped her chest with no avail. I put my hands on her face, opened her mouth and tried breathing air into it.

Still no avail. I tried pumping her chest again, and once I had given up hope, she slowly turned her head to the side and coughed up some water.

I sighed in relief as I saw her eyes slowly open.

**Jack's POV**

"Jack," Curtis called, "I think you should take a look at this." I walked over to his station.

"The gray van we were talking about was just found in the lake, witnesses say two men had gone out to check a flat tire and in the meantime a couple fitting Tony and Michelle's description drove the car into the lake. No bodies were found."

"Alright, send a team to the dock and widen the search parameters around the lake." I said.

I wonder what they were doing right now.

**Michelle's POV**

"Ouch!" I exclaimed as another thorn cut my leg. Great, just great. I hate the woods: plants, thorns, wild animals, and more ways make yourself bleed.

Lenten's phone wasn't charged so we couldn't make any calls, and now we were hiking through a jungle with no direction and no way to find CTU before Marwan finds us first.

"Another thorn?" Tony asked, who had several scratches on his arms from thorns himself.

"Yeah," I muttered. We had been walking for about half an hour straight now and still had no idea where we were, and I had to keep slapping myself to keep me awake.

Tony, seeing this, said, "Look, there's a cave over there; I think we need a break."

"Sure," I replied sitting down in the cave, followed by Tony. I sat with my back against one of the walls, and he sat with his back against the wall opposite me.

I watched him struggle to keep awake… and lose. His eyes slowly closed shut and I could feel mine do the same.

This was the Tony I had married, I hadn't seen him since his arrest, but he was back. So what was the problem? Like Jack said, all he needed was some time, just like Jack, now he's back. But it scared me. Would he stay? Would he even forgive me for leaving him? Would things ever go back to the way they were?

These thoughts overwhelmed me as I slowly drifted off to sleep as well, escaping from reality, just for a little while…

**O.K., kinda short, but I had to post something. I will be on vacation for the next two weeks or so, the next chapter will have to wait a little longer. So when I come back, I WANT REVIEWS! Thanks. **


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